Letter from Hattie to Edward, February 25, 1874
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Hattie to Edward, February 25, 1874
Subject
Walking; Organ (Musical Instrument); Presbyterian church buildings
Description
Harriet writes to Edward that she writes to him while the rest of the house is going for a walk. The new organ that Edward helped them get arrived last night and Henry opened it earlier that day. They decided to put it in the new church and get an older organ for the school. It is very nice and they are very grateful.
Creator
Noyes, Harriet Newell
Source
The College of Wooster, Special Collections, Noyes Collection, Box #1
Publisher
Unpublished
Date
1874-02-25
Contributor
Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Special Collections Grant
Rights
Format
PDF
Language
eng (English)
Type
Text
Identifier
noyes_c_cor_112
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Canton China
Feb y 25th 1874.
My dear Edward,
Henry Mattie and Lucy
are going out for a walk on
Shamin and I am going to
stay in and have a little chat
with you. Moreover I have
been quite a cripple the past
few days one of my feet has felt
so sore that I can hardly
wear a shoe. "The climate"
on the hard stone pavements
or some other [u]cause[/u] seems to produce
the effect here of making one's feet
very tender but fortunately it is
"the fashion" to wear slippers almost
"ad libitum," And now I must
tell you "firstly" about our new
organ which came to hand
a few days since .
Time, late Friday Eve,
Scene Henry, Mattie, Lucy, Hattie,
with Mary Preston and Johnnie Happer
sitting around the parlor fire
cracking and Eating hickory nuts
from Ohio. Now is'nt that a
pleasant picture. Well that is
just how we were employed when
suddenly we heard a great noise
at the gate and the servants went
running through the hall while
we listened to find out what the
matter was. We first thought there
must be some quarrelling out in
the streets then I thought perhaps
they were trying to drive away a
poor old beggar who sometimes comes
to sleep in the gateway. Then
as we heard them stumbling up
the steps I said Why they are
bringing [u]him[/u] in and we
all rushed to the door and
sure enough there [u]he[/u] was our
long Expected organ, carefully
boxed, for they put them up
very nicely to come on these long
sea voyages. We did not attempt
to take it out that night but the
next morning Henry went at it
not with "hammer + tongs" but with
a screwdiver and in a short time
the instrument appeased. We were
afraid that perhaps might have
been trying for it it was so
long on the way but were
delighted to find it in perfect
order. It is a very nice one
good tone and a very pretty
one, and remembering the
hand that you had in
getting it for us it makes it
seem like a present from
you. You can feel that you
have given us a great and
a [u]lasting[/u] pleasure and we
all send you our [u]warmest
thanks[/u]. It is vacation now
so the girls have not seen it
but I expect they will be
delighted when they see it.
And now I wonder what you
will think when I tell you
what we propose doing with it.
We have all voted that it is [u]too
nice[/u] for the school chapel and
[u]just the thing[/u] for our new church.
I expect the good friends to whose
kindness we are indebted for this
nice gift will not object to
having it thus "promoted" to fill
a more honorable position. Do
you any of them will complain
of "misappropriation." I want to
send my thanks to all who have
been interested in getting it for us
but as I cannot I will send a
[u]quantity[/u] to you and you must
give them to them second
handed. I have written to
the Mansfield and must write
to the ladies in Newark who
gave 50 dollars toward it.
Henry + I had planned to give
200 dollars ourselves and buy
as good an organ for that amount
as we could. But as we have
such a good one "in hand" we think
we would rather get a cheap one
for the school or use an old one
that we now have and save our
money to appropriate in some
other direction. And now I must
say good-night. We are sending
out a large mail this time over
[u]fifty[/u] letters from "this shop", Half of
them will be mine I am trying to
[Note: Concludes sideways on the margin of page one]
get my correspondence written up for I do not expect to have
much time for letter writing the next few months.
Your aff sister [u]Hattie.[/u]
中国广州
1874 年 2 月 25 日。
我亲爱的爱德华、亨利·马蒂和露西要去沙明散步，
我要留在里面和你聊几句。
而且，
这几天我是个瘸子，
一只脚疼得几乎不能穿鞋。
硬石路面上的“气候”或其他原因似乎在这里产生了使脚变得非常柔软的效果，
但幸运的是，
几乎“随意”穿拖鞋是“时尚”，
现在我必须告诉你“首先"关于我们几天后到手的新风琴。
时间，周五晚上，
亨利、玛蒂、露西、海蒂和玛丽·普雷斯顿和约翰尼·哈珀围坐在客厅开火，
吃着来自俄亥俄州的山核桃。
现在这不是一幅令人愉快的画面。
好吧，
我们就是这样被雇用的，
突然我们听到门口传来一声巨响，
仆人跑过大厅，
我们听着想知道是怎么回事。
我们首先认为街上肯定发生了争吵，
然后我想他们可能是想赶走一个有时会在门口睡觉的可怜的老乞丐。
然后，
当我们听到他们跌跌撞撞地走上台阶时，
我说他们为什么要把他带进来，
我们都冲到门口，
果然他是我们期待已久的风琴，
精心装箱，
因为他们把它们摆得很好，
以便在这些长海上航行。
那天晚上我们并没有试图把它拿出来，
但是第二天早上亨利没有用“锤子和钳子”而是用螺丝刀去敲它，
在很短的时间内，
仪器就安抚了。
我们担心也许可能一直在尝试它，
它在路上很长，
但很高兴找到它完美的顺序。
这是一种非常好的音色，
非常漂亮的音色，
并且记住您为我们获得它时所用的手，
这使它看起来像是您送给我们的礼物。
您能感觉到您给了我们巨大而持久的快乐，
我们都向您致以最热烈的感谢。
现在是假期，
所以女孩们还没有看到它，
但我希望她们看到它时会很高兴。
现在我想知道当我告诉你我们建议用它做什么时你会怎么想。
我们都投票认为这对学校教堂来说太好了，
对我们的新教堂来说正好。
我希望我们因这份好礼物而感谢他们的好朋友不会反对它因此被“提升”以填补更光荣的职位。
你有没有人会抱怨“挪用公款”。
我想向所有有兴趣为我们购买它的人表示感谢，
但由于我不能，
我将向您发送数量，
您必须将它们二手给他们。
我已经写信给曼斯菲尔德，
并且必须写给纽瓦克的女士们，
他们为此捐了 50 美元。
亨利和我本来打算自己捐出 200 美元，
然后用这个钱尽可能多地购买一个器官。
但是，
由于我们“手头”有这么好的一个，
我们认为我们宁愿为学校买一个便宜的，
或者使用我们现在拥有的旧的，
并节省我们的钱用于其他方向。
现在我必须说晚安。
这次我们要寄出一封大邮件，
超过五十封来自“这家商店”的信，
其中一半是我的在接下来的几个月里有很多时间写信。
你的妹妹，
海蒂。
Feb y 25th 1874.
My dear Edward,
Henry Mattie and Lucy
are going out for a walk on
Shamin and I am going to
stay in and have a little chat
with you. Moreover I have
been quite a cripple the past
few days one of my feet has felt
so sore that I can hardly
wear a shoe. "The climate"
on the hard stone pavements
or some other [u]cause[/u] seems to produce
the effect here of making one's feet
very tender but fortunately it is
"the fashion" to wear slippers almost
"ad libitum," And now I must
tell you "firstly" about our new
organ which came to hand
a few days since .
Time, late Friday Eve,
Scene Henry, Mattie, Lucy, Hattie,
with Mary Preston and Johnnie Happer
sitting around the parlor fire
cracking and Eating hickory nuts
from Ohio. Now is'nt that a
pleasant picture. Well that is
just how we were employed when
suddenly we heard a great noise
at the gate and the servants went
running through the hall while
we listened to find out what the
matter was. We first thought there
must be some quarrelling out in
the streets then I thought perhaps
they were trying to drive away a
poor old beggar who sometimes comes
to sleep in the gateway. Then
as we heard them stumbling up
the steps I said Why they are
bringing [u]him[/u] in and we
all rushed to the door and
sure enough there [u]he[/u] was our
long Expected organ, carefully
boxed, for they put them up
very nicely to come on these long
sea voyages. We did not attempt
to take it out that night but the
next morning Henry went at it
not with "hammer + tongs" but with
a screwdiver and in a short time
the instrument appeased. We were
afraid that perhaps might have
been trying for it it was so
long on the way but were
delighted to find it in perfect
order. It is a very nice one
good tone and a very pretty
one, and remembering the
hand that you had in
getting it for us it makes it
seem like a present from
you. You can feel that you
have given us a great and
a [u]lasting[/u] pleasure and we
all send you our [u]warmest
thanks[/u]. It is vacation now
so the girls have not seen it
but I expect they will be
delighted when they see it.
And now I wonder what you
will think when I tell you
what we propose doing with it.
We have all voted that it is [u]too
nice[/u] for the school chapel and
[u]just the thing[/u] for our new church.
I expect the good friends to whose
kindness we are indebted for this
nice gift will not object to
having it thus "promoted" to fill
a more honorable position. Do
you any of them will complain
of "misappropriation." I want to
send my thanks to all who have
been interested in getting it for us
but as I cannot I will send a
[u]quantity[/u] to you and you must
give them to them second
handed. I have written to
the Mansfield and must write
to the ladies in Newark who
gave 50 dollars toward it.
Henry + I had planned to give
200 dollars ourselves and buy
as good an organ for that amount
as we could. But as we have
such a good one "in hand" we think
we would rather get a cheap one
for the school or use an old one
that we now have and save our
money to appropriate in some
other direction. And now I must
say good-night. We are sending
out a large mail this time over
[u]fifty[/u] letters from "this shop", Half of
them will be mine I am trying to
[Note: Concludes sideways on the margin of page one]
get my correspondence written up for I do not expect to have
much time for letter writing the next few months.
Your aff sister [u]Hattie.[/u]
中国广州
1874 年 2 月 25 日。
我亲爱的爱德华、亨利·马蒂和露西要去沙明散步，
我要留在里面和你聊几句。
而且，
这几天我是个瘸子，
一只脚疼得几乎不能穿鞋。
硬石路面上的“气候”或其他原因似乎在这里产生了使脚变得非常柔软的效果，
但幸运的是，
几乎“随意”穿拖鞋是“时尚”，
现在我必须告诉你“首先"关于我们几天后到手的新风琴。
时间，周五晚上，
亨利、玛蒂、露西、海蒂和玛丽·普雷斯顿和约翰尼·哈珀围坐在客厅开火，
吃着来自俄亥俄州的山核桃。
现在这不是一幅令人愉快的画面。
好吧，
我们就是这样被雇用的，
突然我们听到门口传来一声巨响，
仆人跑过大厅，
我们听着想知道是怎么回事。
我们首先认为街上肯定发生了争吵，
然后我想他们可能是想赶走一个有时会在门口睡觉的可怜的老乞丐。
然后，
当我们听到他们跌跌撞撞地走上台阶时，
我说他们为什么要把他带进来，
我们都冲到门口，
果然他是我们期待已久的风琴，
精心装箱，
因为他们把它们摆得很好，
以便在这些长海上航行。
那天晚上我们并没有试图把它拿出来，
但是第二天早上亨利没有用“锤子和钳子”而是用螺丝刀去敲它，
在很短的时间内，
仪器就安抚了。
我们担心也许可能一直在尝试它，
它在路上很长，
但很高兴找到它完美的顺序。
这是一种非常好的音色，
非常漂亮的音色，
并且记住您为我们获得它时所用的手，
这使它看起来像是您送给我们的礼物。
您能感觉到您给了我们巨大而持久的快乐，
我们都向您致以最热烈的感谢。
现在是假期，
所以女孩们还没有看到它，
但我希望她们看到它时会很高兴。
现在我想知道当我告诉你我们建议用它做什么时你会怎么想。
我们都投票认为这对学校教堂来说太好了，
对我们的新教堂来说正好。
我希望我们因这份好礼物而感谢他们的好朋友不会反对它因此被“提升”以填补更光荣的职位。
你有没有人会抱怨“挪用公款”。
我想向所有有兴趣为我们购买它的人表示感谢，
但由于我不能，
我将向您发送数量，
您必须将它们二手给他们。
我已经写信给曼斯菲尔德，
并且必须写给纽瓦克的女士们，
他们为此捐了 50 美元。
亨利和我本来打算自己捐出 200 美元，
然后用这个钱尽可能多地购买一个器官。
但是，
由于我们“手头”有这么好的一个，
我们认为我们宁愿为学校买一个便宜的，
或者使用我们现在拥有的旧的，
并节省我们的钱用于其他方向。
现在我必须说晚安。
这次我们要寄出一封大邮件，
超过五十封来自“这家商店”的信，
其中一半是我的在接下来的几个月里有很多时间写信。
你的妹妹，
海蒂。
Original Format
Letter
Collection
Citation
Noyes, Harriet Newell, “Letter from Hattie to Edward, February 25, 1874,” Letters from Harriet Noyes: Missionaries and Women's Education in Nineteenth Century China, accessed May 16, 2024, https://noyesletters.org/items/show/167.